Easy Wood Tools - Mini-detailer, first try

[rsser]

I had a play this afternoon with the mini-detailer on some Radiata Pine.

The TCT is a narrow diamond and the work is done mainly on the rounded tip but the sides also come into play.

The tool is said to be good for beads, coves, v-grooves, tenons and facing off ends.

Now I'm mainly a faceplate turner and my skills with spindle work are basic. I was also uncertain how the detailer could be made to work but there's now a YouTube vid showing the mini tools.

Well it worked very well. With a bit of a swivelling on the tool rest I did a couple of beads that I couldn't have bettered with a skew and with a light touch got a pretty good finish. The cutter width at the max does present some limitations to the forms you can do however.

Facing off the end with the length of the diamond also worked very nicely; v. little tear out.

But the rounded tip means no crisp 90* inside corners on a tenon.

Coves are harder to do neatly. V good control is needed as there's no guidance from a bevel. I did a few coves with the Finisher and again got a result that beat my gouge work both in ease, regular radius and finish.

So I was impressed with the mini-Detailer.

I'd like to see a turret allowing you to swivel and switch ends, with the other end being a sharp point to do those tenons. A turret providing diff radii on one cutter on the Rougher would also be neat.

I trued the piece with the Rougher. Went in hard down to a couple of mm short of what I wanted; then light cuts with the handle end dropped to take off finer shavings. Left a pretty good finish. Could improve on it with the Finisher at a shear angle but that's another one that takes good control to avoid ripples.

[Jim Carroll]

So nothing a well sharpened Spindle Gouge cant do.

[rsser]

Yes, facing off the end of a spindle blank, & v-grooves.

Plus getting beads with far less skill/practice.

Plus not having to sharpen during c. 5 hours of use, depending on the timber. Then of course you're up for USD19.

[Frank&Earnest]

Plus anything a bowl gouge can do. I claim paternity. Should I ask them for royalties?:D
The ultimate turning tool? - Woodwork Forums (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/ultimate-turning-tool-85671-post861367/#post861367)
Now that i look again at that thread, it looks almost as a self-obituary. I managed to stay away only a few months, after all... and I did not achieve half as much as I intended. Such is life.

[rsser]

Same cutting method as your 'bowl gouge' Frank; but diff geometries obviously allow you to do diff things.

[hughie]

Then of course you're up for USD19.


Therein lies the story, you cant buy a good or even a lousy gouge for $19 :2tsup: .... and if your astute, this type of tip is available free in a used condition, as they are a standard tip in the engineering world.
OK you have to buy another grinding wheel, but only once :U and one wheel would sharpen hundreds of such tips in one go. :2tsup:

[rsser]

Q is whether a green wheel leaves the kind of edge that the EWT or other wood-compatible TC inserts have.

The Finisher bevel looks polished to me and the top shows no grinding marks. My guess is that one reason for the good finish is that refined edge. As I found in a scraper comparo under the Ci0 thread, when you refine a scraper edge you get as good if not a better finish. I expect it won't last as long as TC though and the refining work takes a bit of time.

[hughie]

Q is whether a green wheel leaves the kind of edge that the EWT or other wood-compatible TC inserts have.

no they wont you will have to touch it up with a very fine diamond file/hone

[Frank&Earnest]

Same cutting method as your 'bowl gouge' Frank; but diff geometries obviously allow you to do diff things.

Yes, of course the diamond shape allows better access in narrow spaces and the square better sweeping curves. I would argue, however, that the square allows similar versatility on the spindle (evidence being my finials) while the diamond would be awkward for the bottom of a bowl. I do not believe that a patent application, if they have one, would succeed just because of the different angle...:D In any case, IIRC I said "square or diamond" on the forum when I said I was working on the idea of an "insert gouge". Pre-existing knowledge.

[rsser]

no they wont you will have to touch it up with a very fine diamond file/hone

Yes, the TCT sharpeners on the metalwork forum talk about lapping with diamond paste at 5000g and then 30-50,000g. I'm now set up with a jeweller's lapping disc for another purpose; doing curved edges would take some ingenuity.

[jefferson]

I won't steal any of your thunder, Ern, but the Ci4m has been here for probably well over a month. On test on all sorts of wood too. Small bowls and platters mainly.

I would agree with Jim C. that it won't do anything much better than tried and true methods and chisels.

The point, at least as I see it, it that the Easy Wood Tools - now numbering 5 with probably more on the way - can make a novice turner actually turn something halfway decent without ANY instruction / lessons etc. Well, almost none.

Tool sl*t that I am, I do enjoy playing with new tools. And with each new tool, I think you find a niche for it, albeit unintended. For example, the Ci1 is my first tool of choice for cutting / scraping the inside base of a box where the bottom is intended to be flat. No better tool for the job IMHO.

( uses the Ci1 for an altogether different purpose!!!!)

And I really, really like the Ci0 (a so-called "finisher") for hogging out lots of material in quick time in scrape mode. And later in sheer scraping to get a finish right off the tool.

Anyway, more on these tools from me soon. I will circulate the Ci4 spare I have to anyone wanting to trying it out - after the local Club members return it. Plus the Ci3m.

[rsser]

Yes indeed Jeff: the EWTs' selling point is 'easy'. 2nd selling point is a long-life edge.

There's more than one way of skinning a cat in turning and there's nothing sacred about one method or another. People make their own trade-offs between cost, speed, skill development, finish and fun.

I was sceptical about scraping methods in spindle turning but am no longer.

The HT bead forming tools can be made to work even on ordinary timber; the EWTs provide their cleanest cuts on harder timbers but with care left a surprisingly good finish on my bit of Radiata.

[Frank&Earnest]

OK, so I am not as smart as I thought :- but I am humble enough to admit it: I was not the first one to have the idea. It was already patented in the US in 2007: Woodturning Tool - Google Patent Search (http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=A_qhAAAAEBAJ&dq=carbide+insert+cutter+woodturning)

So, whatever we think of the patentability of the idea of screwing a cutter on a shaft, it has been done, and any further refinements we can come up with, because of the, obviously, all-encompassing description of cutter and shaft, are really infringements of that patent. in the US, of course. Here AFAIK it has not been patented, so it should be in the public domain.

[hughie]

So, whatever we think of the patentability of the idea of screwing a cutter on a shaft, it has been done, and any further refinements we can come up with, because of the, obviously, all-encompassing description of cutter and shaft, are really infringements of that patent. in the US, of course. Here AFAIK it has not been patented, so it should be in the public domain.

Although with in the patent laws of this country there is room for an innovation patent on any improvements. The innovation patent is granted with out examination and for a maximum of 8 years and can be done on line.

[Frank&Earnest]

Although with in the patent laws of this country there is room for an innovation patent on any improvements. The innovation patent is granted with out examination and for a maximum of 8 years and can be done on line.

Are you telling me that I screwed up on the opportunity to patent my 3 sided bedan? Don't worry, I just want the glory.:D

Sorry, Ern, end of derailment. My experience totally agrees with what you said.

[rsser]

No worries Frank.

I've now had a couple of hours playing with the Rougher, Finisher and Detailer and learned a bit more.

I don't agree with Jeff that they could be used by a beginning turner with almost no instruction. The same safety caveats apply, the same rules about interaction of edge and grain apply and to get the best partic out of the Finisher and Detailer decent control is needed.

Hollowing out a 'coolie hat' style Silky bowl with the Rougher I used the side and a bit of the front and was going gang busters til the extent of overhang meant loss of tool control, a dig and the piece was levered out of the chuck. Roughing the outside of a Cypress bowl blank indicated that only slight tool bounce would rip the end-grain like tissue paper. By contrast, finessing the approach angle and depth of cut allowed a quality of finish on a Radiata spindle piece which was very good - and it wasn't slow growth timber.

The Finisher is sweet on a concave curve; on a convex curve you need good technique.